Most of the country’s biggest daily newspapers had lower circulation

D- Is wrong because when comparison term - "circulation in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996" comes after comparison verb - "had" then noun copies - that/those are not required.

Similar example:
- Wild animals have less total fat than livestock animals. "total fat" comes after "have"
- According to X, more babies were born to women over 30 years of age than under 30 years of age. "women over 30 years of age" comes after "were"

The correct comparisons are as follows:

Structure 1:
Comparing "circulation" with "circulation" - The circulation in period X is more than the circulation in period Y. OR The circulation in period X is more than that in period Y.

Structure 2:
Comparing 2 periods - The circulation is more in period X than in period Y. In this case the use of "that" to replace "circulation" would be incorrect.

The subject sentence has the structure 2.

Hi bpiyush ,

Try to replace 'that' with lower circulation and read the sentence again.

It will be like :

Most of the country’s biggest daily newspapers had lower circulation in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996 than lower circulation in a similar period a year earlier.

Are you comparing two lower circulations?? Or are you saying circulation in one period was lower than in another period?

Try to read the sentence I have written slowly, you will be able to see what I am trying to convey.

Does that make sense?

Option D would be correct if the sentence construction was - “The circulation of country’s biggest daily newspapers in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996 was lower than that in a similar period a year earlier.

Here the subject of the clause is "Circulation", So the pronoun that replaces the subject "circulation" and the comparision seems to be logical as the entities being compared are the circulations in two different periods.

However the sentence structure in the question under discussion is different.

Newspapers had lower circulation in the period X than (they had) in period Y.

Here is a similar question and option C is the right answer.

In no other historical sighting did Halley's Comet
cause such a worldwide sensation as did its return in
1910-1911.
(A) did its return in 1910-1911
(B) had its 1910-1911 return
(C) in its return of 1910-1911
(D) its return of 1910-1911 did
(E) its return in 1910-1911

The structure looks like

Had lower circulation in X than in Y.

Kudos if you like it.

Posted from my mobile device

Excellent question! To see why the pronoun "that" can sometimes muddle the meaning of the sentence, consider a simple example, "Johnny ate more pie on Tuesday than on Thursday." This makes perfect sense. Johnny ate more pie on Tuesday than he ate on Thursday. Because the first prepositional phrase, "on Tuesday" modifies when Johnny ate pie, it's perfectly logical to assume the second one, "on Thursday" is doing the same thing, even if we don't repeat the subject or the verb.

But watch what happens when I throw a "that" in: "Johnny ate more pie on Tuesday than that on Thursday." At best the "that" is unnecessary, as we've already established that the sentence works just fine without it. Worse, if "that" refers to "pie," it kind of sounds like we're saying that Johnny ate more pie on Tuesday than the pie ate on Thursday! No one should have to live in a world in which pie cannibalism is rampant.

Same kind of weirdness in (D): "Most of the country’s biggest daily newspapers had lower circulation in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996 than that in a similar period a year earlier." We're trying to compare the circulation these newspapers had in one period to what they had in another. The repeated "in" makes this clear without the use of "that." And if "that" refers to "circulation," it seems as though the biggest newspapers had a lower circulation in one period than the circulation had in another period.

If introducing extraneous words is either unnecessary or confusing, we'd rather not do it, and so (D) is an inferior option to (C).

Put another way, we want to avoid an overly rigid approach when we're evaluating an option. Rather than thinking "well, I saw this word earlier, so I have to see the same word later!" we want to consider what a given construction does to the meaning and clarity of the sentence, while taking the context into account.

I hope that helps!

Dear Friends,

Here is a detailed explanation to this question-

Concepts tested here: Comparison + Awkwardness/Redundancy

• A comparison must always be made between similar things.

A: This answer choice incorrectly compares "in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996" to "a similar period a year earlier"; please remember, a comparison must always be made between similar things.

B: This answer choice incorrectly compares "in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996" to "a similar period's a year earlier", wherein "period's" is a possessive noun that refers to "circulation"; please remember, a comparison must always be made between similar things.

C: Correct. This answer choice correctly compares "in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996" with "in a similar period a year earlier". Further, Option C is free of any awkwardness or redundancy.

D: This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy phrase "that in a similar period", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

E: This answer choice uses the needlessly wordy phrase "that of a similar period", leading to awkwardness and redundancy.

Hence, C is the best answer choice.

All the best!
Experts' Global Team

Experts please help me with this. Why option D is wrong and C correct? Does that not refer to lower circulation?

@Experts, Please help with this: Why option D is wrong and C correct?

In D and E, does the pronoun "that" refers to lower circulation or circulation?
Also, in general, can a pronoun selectively refer ONLY to a noun or does it have to refer to entire noun phrase that includes adjectives?

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasKarishma , DmitryFarber , ChiranjeevSingh , RonPurewal , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyMurray , other experts -please enlighten

Hi Skywalker18

We use that/those to mimic some noun in the sentence. We use it/they to refer back to nouns. So, when we use that/those, we mimic ONLY the noun and NOT anything that modifies this noun; HOWEVER, with it/they we DO include the modifiers of the noun while referring back.

Take a look at the following simple sentences to understand this concept a bit further:

The dress in the cupboard is prettier than that on the floor.

In the above sentence, the pronoun "that" just mimics the noun (the dress). That's all. The description of the dress (in the cupboard) is not referred to as it does not make any sense. There are two separate dresses - one is in the cupboard, and the other is on the floor. Please note that in the above sentence, the description "on the floor" is important for us to fully understand the meaning of "that". In other words, when pronouns such as "that/those" are used in the above way, they must be followed by their own description.

However, if we use the pronoun "it", we have to refer back to the exact same item. This means, "it" refers back to not only the noun but also the description of the noun.

The dress gifted to me by my mother is heavier than I expected it to be.

In the above sentence, the pronoun "it" refers back to the noun (the dress) AND its description/modifier (gifted to me by my mother). This makes sense because, "it" talks about the exact same item talked earlier.

You can apply the above knowledge to the following OG (OG VR2) question:

Lacking information about energy use, people tend to
overestimate the amount of energy used by equipment,
such as lights, that are visible and must be turned on
and off and underestimate that used by unobtrusive
equipment, such as water heaters.

(A) equipment, such as lights, that are visible and
must be turned on and off and underestimate that
(B) equipment, such as lights, that are visible and
must be turned on and off and underestimate it
when
(C) equipment, such as lights, that is visible and must
be turned on and off and underestimate it when
(D) visible equipment, such as lights, that must be
turned on and off and underestimate that
(E) visible equipment, such as lights, that must be
turned on and off and underestimate it when

In choices B, C, and E above, the pronoun "it" not only refers to the noun "the amount of energy" but also to its further description/modifier "used by...". However, in choices A and D, the highlighted pronoun "that" refers only to the noun "the amount of energy" and NOT its modifier "used by...".

(The OA for the above question is as the other remaining choice runs in to problem with SVA and parallelism. )

So, as you can see, what exactly these pronouns stand for depends on whether you use a personal pronoun (it/they etc.) or a new copy one (that/those).

Hope the above analysis helps the broader concept you wanted to know!

Cheers!

NS

GMATNinja

Just a quick question


I read your post of 03/2018, and I have a doubt between D and C, as non-native in English.

I don't understand why is a waste of words to repeat "circulation". I have learned that Gmat prefers parallelism, and in many exercises I have found that is necessary to repeat the noun in order to make the sentence "parallel". As "that" in D is so much separated of the word "circulation", I understand that the word "that" is necessary.



Could you provide an explanation "conceptual" of parallelism (such as a "rule" to distinguish when is a "waste of words" and when is necessary to repeat the noun), please?


Thank you

Most of the country’s biggest daily newspapers had lower circulation in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996 than a similar period a year earlier.


(A) a similar period

(B) a similar period’s

(C) in a similar period

(D) that in a similar period

(E) that of a similar period

in comparison, the remaining part of the second part at the end of the sentence must have the same grammatical role as the corresponding part in the first part of comparison.

in choice c, "in a similar period" has the same grammatical role as " in 6 months from xxx to yyy". they are adverb of each clause they are in. bingo

if they do not have the same grammatical role, we are comparing apple with orange.

regarding choice d
"that in a similar period" is a noun phrase which contain a noun and its modifier. this noun phrase should be parallel with a coresponding part in the first part of comparison. there is no such corresponding part.

I can say so because , in " circulation in 6 months from xxx to yyy" , the phrase "in 6 months from xxx to yyy" is not a noun modifier, but is an adverb. so, " that in a similar period" is not parallel with " circulation in 6 months from xxx to yyy". although they are in the same form , noun+preposition phrase, they are not paralel and not in the same grammatical role. this making comparison illogical. "that in the similar period" must be parallel with a noun phrase which is subject or object of the first clause. this is wrong.

in the test room, we dont have time to analyse how the comparison is not logical. we just check whether the remaining part of the second clause has the same grammatical role with a phrase in the first clause.

DOING COMPARISON PROBLEM IS CHECKING GRAMMATICAL ROLES

As described in this post and this one, there is no problem with the usage of "those" in the example you cited. (If that's unclear, please post follow-up questions in the thread for that particular question.)

But in choice (D) in this thread, the use of "that" is more than a minor issue -- it changes the meaning in a way that is very problematic, as described in my last post.

I hope this helps!

Hello Everyone!

This looks like a pretty straightforward GMAT question that deals with comparisons! Let's start off by doing a quick scan over the question, and highlight any major differences in orange:

Most of the country’s biggest daily newspapers had lower circulation in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996 than a similar period a year earlier.

(A) a similar period
(B) a similar period’s
(C) in a similar period
(D) that in a similar period
(E) that of a similar period

After a quick glance at the question, a couple differences jump out:

1. a similar / in a similar / that in a similar / that of a similar (Idioms & Parallelism)
2. period / period's (Meaning)

Let's start with #1 on our list: idioms & parallelism. If we look at the entire sentence, we see that this is a comparison that uses the following idiom:

X lower than Y

To make sure we know what X and Y are in the sentence, let's look at the entire original sentence:

Most of the country’s biggest daily newspapers had lower circulation in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996 than a similar period a year earlier.

The idiom in this case is constructed a little different than the original, but the rules still apply:

had lower circulation X than Y

We can also determine that X is "in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996." So whichever option we choose must be parallel to our X. To make this easier to spot, let's add in some more of the original comparison:

(A) had lower circulation in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996 than a similar period a year earlier. --> NOT PARALLEL (It doesn't repeat the word "in" at the beginning of both X and Y.)

(B) had lower circulation in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996 than a similar period’s a year earlier. --> NOT PARALLEL (It doesn't repeat the word "in" at the beginning of both X and Y. Also, making "period's" possessive, it changes the meaning. This is now comparing a period of time to some other thing that exists in the other period, which isn't parallel.)

(C) had lower circulation in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996 than in a similar period a year earlier. --> PARALLEL

(D) had lower circulation in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996 than that in a similar period a year earlier. --> NOT PARALLEL (The two items being compared aren't parallel: a period of time vs. "that" in a period of time. It's also not clear what the pronoun "that" is referring to.)

(E) had lower circulation in the six months from October 1995 through March 1996 than that of a similar period a year earlier. --> NOT PARALLEL (The two items being compared aren't parallel: a period of time vs. "that of" a period of time. It's also not clear what the pronoun "that" is referring to.)

There you have it - option C is the only one that uses parallelism when comparing two periods of time! If you can spot comparison questions quickly on the GMAT, you can start with parallelism to narrow down your options significantly - and quickly!


Don't study for the GMAT. Train for it.

Hi Experts,

I am facing a doubt while comparing the noun in this setence. IMO, Option A can also be correct as "circulation" is compared to " a similar period" which does not make sense. Hence, logically, " a similar period" will be compared to the other time period in the sentence.

Yes, putting a preposition like in Option C removes the ambiguity, but if Option C was not there, then Option A would be correct.

Please let me know if my thinking is on the right track or if I am comparing wrong noun entities?

Hello prashaant2089!

In option A, it is not comparing circulation to a time period - the circulation is the basis for the comparison, but the actual items being compared are two time periods.

The preposition "in" in option C makes the two items parallel - it has nothing to do with ambiguity. Option A would still be incorrect because it's not parallel. I guess if it was the ONLY other option left, it might be the best choice you have, but that's not how the GMAT works. The GMAT will give you a correct answer, especially if parallelism is one of the concepts it's testing you on with that sentence. They won't leave you with a clearly wrong answer that's "good enough."

I hope that helps clear things up!